An early surge of norepinephrine along brainstem pathways drives sensory-evoked awakening.

ABSTRACT: The locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system regulates arousal and awakening; however, it remains unclear whether the LC does this in a global or circuit-specific manner. We hypothesized that sensory-evoked awakenings are predominantly regulated by specific LC-NE efferent pathways. Anatomical, physiological, and functional modularities of LC-NE pathways involving the mouse basal forebrain (BF) and pontine reticular nucleus (PRN) were tested. We found partial anatomical segregation between the LC → PRN and LC → BF circuits. Extracellular NE dynamics in BF and PRN exhibited distinct sound-evoked activation during sleep, including a fast sound-evoked NE peak specific to PRN. Causal optogenetic interrogation of LC efferent pathways, by retro-channelrhodopsin (ChR2) activatio

SUBMITTER: Matosevich N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12422181 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature